"When fascism comes to America, it will be wrapped in the flag and carrying the cross."
-- Sinclair Lewis

Friday, January 23, 2015

If Bibi Netanyahu speaks to Congress, it should be (a) at a better time and (b) by presidential invite

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I'm not big on e-petitions, but I signed this one urging my congressman to make a fuss about the GOP scumnuts' invitation to Bibi Netanyahu to address a joint session of Congress.

"We're committed to Israel's future. Making Israel a partisan issue weakens the US-Israel relationship and undermines vital American diplomatic leadership."

-- J Street president Jeremy Ben-Ami,
in a letter to potential petition signers

by Ken

Until proper banners can be printed up for display in both houses of Congress, I think the leadership in each should arrange with artisic members of their caucus to provide a supply of bedsheets to be hung in their chambers emblazoned with the increasingly well-earned call to arms:

"THE CRACKPOT 114TH --
AMERICA'S THUG CONGRESS
(estab. 2015)"

While the nutters bask in the glow of attention rarely paid to the criminally insane, it would be easy just to take each new manifestation of their psychosis and scumbaggery in stride. But I don't think we can automatically let go of the concept of "going too far," and there's a case to be made that the invitation by House Speaker "Sunny John" Boehner to Israeli Prime Minster Benjamin Netanyahu to address a joint session of Congress is a case in point.

Of course the GOP congressional scumnuts are thrilled with the opportunity to simultaneously bash the president while glorifying their own stinking selves, throw a monkey wrench into our foreign-policy-making apparatus, make our difficult relations with Iran even more difficult, and exalt -- and help reelect -- a despicable homocidal thug. However, while these may all be beautiful outcomes for the scumnuts, there may be other, more important considerations.

J Street is kinder than I would be to the idea of a thug like Bibi addressing Congress.

Israel's leader addressing America's legislators is great. As a pro-Israel organization which works to strengthen the deep ties of friendship and strategic alliance between the United States and Israel, we're grateful for the high honor of seeing an Israeli Prime Minister invited to address the US Congress.

The man is a disgrace -- a disgrace to Israel, to Jews everywhere, a disgrace to the human genome. Of course I don't suppose the J Street folks can say that. What they do say, though, is that "the timing here couldn't be worse." Per J Street founder-president Jeremy Ben-Ami's letter:

Here's what's wrong with Bibi coming to Congress on March 1:

* Traditionally, the executive branch -- President Obama -- leads on foreign policy. Boehner inviting a foreign leader, even a close ally, without even a simple "heads-up" to the president or his Democratic counterparts is a serious breach of standards.

* This invitation looks like a thinly-veiled attempt to scuttle the critical negotiations taking place right now aimed at ensuring that Iran never acquires a nuclear weapon. Bibi and Obama disagree on how to deal with Iran, and that's fair. But a foreign leader lobbying Congress (from the same spot where the President delivered his State of the Union address just days ago!) is inappropriate.

* This also looks like an attempt by some Republican power players to influence Israel's upcoming election, and that's just not something that democratic allies should ever do. Political leaders and pundits in Israel are already in an uproar.

"This is not the time," the J Streeters sum up, "for this politically motivated speech."

Speaker Boehner's decision to invite Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu to address Congress--weeks before Israeli elections and without consulting the President--is a serious breach of protocol.

The leaders of any American ally should be welcomed by Congress--but the timing of this invitation is unnacceptable.

I'm urging you to express your disapproval of this shocking stunt to Speaker Boehner and demand that he postpone the invitation, in consultation with the White House, until after Israeli elections.

There seems little chance of getting through to the GOP scumnuts, who think that every time is the best time for (their kind of) politically motivated speech. The chance that any number of Democratic members of Congress could influence the scumnuts' "thinking" seems pretty remote. More likely they would add "Make Democrats madder than heck" to their list of goals to be achieved.

Still, while I'm not, as some readers know, an e-petition signer, I signed this one, which seemed to me not just to concern an important question but to serve a possibly educational function to Democratic recipients. It's possible that some of them haven't figured out that this is a really bad idea and some objection needs to be raised. I realize that the poor dears are spending a lot of time thinking about which fights are really worth picking, especially among so many fights that can't be won or even materially influenced. Still, sometimes you have to stand up.

I was tempted to say "or else," the "or else" being that the GOP scumnuts will get even crazier and less uninhibited. But that's going to happen regardless. Still, like I was saying, maybe there ought to be limits.